Iris went straight through my waterproofing!

[Joshi83]

ARGH.

Now I have that out of my system, I need some advice.

My pond has started leaking ever so slowly.
It's full concrete and rendered brick painted (very heavily) with waterproofing paint/membrane stuff.
It's been going GREAT for over a year now but last week I decided the Iris needed a trim back and I noticed its small roots that had come out of the pot had actually broken through the membrane into the wall
I'm gutted because I put down about 10coats so I wouldn't have to deal with leaks.

Now it looks like the bricks are filling up with water slowly over time and now the membrane is starting to get small bubbles in it.

What do you think I should do. Should I drain it empty and repaint, or should I empty it and use a pond liner (this will mean I have to get some type of edging to hide the liner over the top of the bricks)

And if I do go liner, will I get issues with water seeping down between the liner and the membrane causing bubbles and bulges etc.

This is an old photo of my pond (pre iris), you can see the issue I would have with the liner having to lip over the top of the bricks.

 

[addy1]

I would drain and repaint and keep the iris out of the pond. You could add a liner, put some sort of rock cap over the top and paint it the red also. That too would look great. You should not get water between the liner and the pond if you have the liner draped over the top, capped with rocks. You might want to really seal the edge of liner over the top with some good pond goop. Seal between the liner and the top edge, then add a rock cap

 

[Joshi83]

Thanks, might re paint. Just took some pavers I have laying around and placed them around the top and it doesnt look too crash hot on the curve. Even if I cut in the angles it just looks a bit wierd.
Biggest problem at the moment is it is raining sparatically lately. Sunny this morning, raining tonight. No end is sight coming into winter

Just when all the plants were fully matured, the fish are healthy, everything going great and i can just sit back and enjoy the pond, and now this.
Devastated...

 

[addy1]

Are there just certain spots the water is going through? There is that gold label pond sealant that will seal under water, it is clear. If you know the leaking areas bet this might fix it.

https://duckduckgo.c...le+pond+sealant

 

[sissy]

new thing little red pond instead of little red sports car lol .gotta love that red

 

[addy1]

new thing little red pond instead of little red sports car lol .gotta love that red

It sure is pretty, totally agree sissy

 

[j.w]

What a bummer and I'd try that clear stuff addy is talking about!

 

[Joshi83]

Thanks addy! That stuff looks brilliant!
Have you used it before? Where the roots went through is on the side wall near the bottom and is over a 3in area (tiny small strands coming out). If i pick off as much of the roots as close to the wall as possible, Is it suitable to smear a big goop over a large area?
Im curious as to how it works underwater.

Having trouble tracking that stuff down here is Australia, not many pond specialists around here. (garden shops here think a pond is a small plastic tub )

 

[Joshi83]

Here's some recent photos for you sissy

 

[j.w]

Beautiful plants Joshi!

 

[Waterbug]

Waterproofing paint/membrane stuff fails when the concrete cracks. That why gunite pools and ponds rarely fail...thick concrete and a lot of rebar to keep it together when it cracks, and concrete always cracks.

Blame it on the Iris if you like, but it wasn't them.

 

[addy1]

Check on line joshi. I have not used it but a bunch have posted that it works and works great. Also you can use it under water. I would try it to fix your leak, might just work.

 

[j.w]

Can't hurt to try to patch and true it could have cracked on its own and Iris found the cracks to grow in as any plant would love to do.

 

[pidluk]

Well i have the same problem, i have a large concrete pond and i noticed that the water table was slowly decreasing and last week noticed a plant grwing through the crack. I am going liner over the concrete and redo it properly now that the stupid heron has taken 90% of my best fishes in one hit.
BTW i had it coated light blue and then coated again with black, i noticed that the fishes were scratching themselves against the wall .

 

[Joshi83]

Ok drained the pond totally and found were the leaks were. One was as I thought were the tiny roots came though.
Interesting though that it wasn't the Iris, it was a plant from outside the pond that sent its roots between the slab and the brickwork and broke through the sealant from outside in and then dug itself into the Iris's pot!!! I was shocked. I also found it's tiny pin thin roots running along the outside curve of the pond against the aggregate.

However the main leak was coming from were the pumps second outlet arm has been rubbing against the corner. There's a wear point in the sealant and it's slowly been filling up inside of the brickwork.

So it's good I decided to go the liner route as the water in the bricks was making the sealant bubble everywhere. Interesting too is some of the bubbles were the size of a 50cent coin but stretched nicely and hadnt broken or anything. I think without the roots and the rubbing I wouldn't have had any dramas. Checked the bottom slab and all the brickwork and not a single crack or movement.

Anyway bought some pavers today to use as capping to hide the overlap of the liner and so far looking good. Cutting in the curve was a pain but worth it. Now just have to re build the waterfall and transfer the fish and their water back.